LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 April 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Territorial Parade. A parade of the First Battalion of the Hawke’s Bay Regiment will be held at the Masterton Drill Hal] tonight. Medical Board Sitting. A sitting of the local examining medical board will be held at the Masterton Drill Hall at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Commission Awarded Land Agent. Mr Salmon, S.M., gave judgment at Wanganui on Saturday for the full amount claimed by a land agent who had done the spade work and introduced a buyer but not actually sold a house property. The magistrate held that plaintiff was entitled to commission. Indoor Basketball. Business people are reminded of a meeting to be held in the Y.M.C.A. rooms tonight, when matters in connection with the organisation of both men’s and women's indoor basketball competitions by the Wairarapa Interhouse Association will be discussed. A large and representative attendance is anticipated.

Masterton Art Club. The Masterton Art Club will hold another of its fortnightly workingmeetings tomorrow evening in the club rooms, Bannister Street. A full attendance of both active and honorary members is requested by the president, who will address the meeting briefly on matters of general interest. Drawing and sketching will follow. Territorials Return.

Masterion members of the Second Battalion of the Hawke’s Bay Regiment, who have completed their three months’ training at Waiouru military camp, returned to their homes on Saturday afternoon. There was a large crowd at the railway station to meet the afternoon train which conveyed the men. Weekend Bivouac. No. 2 Troop and a section of No. 1 Troop of the Independent Squadron. Mounted Rifles, spent the week-end in bivouac at Tinui. The troops took up their quarters on Friday night. Saturday was spent in range work, the unit completing shooting practise. On Sunday a short church service was held at the camp site, the rest of the day being devoted to tactics of an advanced ‘nature. State Housing Scheme.

The number of State houses erectedin the year ended March 31 constitutes a record, said the Minister of Housing, Mr Armstrong, in an interview at Auckland on Saturday. Approximately 400 houses were built in the year, which far exceeds what was thought possible. Artisans were now well trained in the class of house the Government was building, and greater use was being made of machines than previously. The greatest demand for dwellings was in Auckland and Wellington. Well over a third of the Dominion's total of houses had been constructed in Auckland. State Medical Services.

“It seems to me that the State medical service holds nothing for us, and that the State pharmaceutical service holds nothing for us cither,” said Mr J. L. Stewart, Wellington, grand secretary of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, at the annual meeting of the Auckland district. After emphasising that the Order was strictly non-political, Mr Stewart said the friendly societies represented about 300,000 people who had been receiving a medical service through the societies. This was a Dominion-wide service and provided for a section of the public that was most in need of medical benefits, but there was no provision for that service under the Government scheme. Public Works Programme. “The public works programme for the current year commencing on April 1 will be regulated by material and the number of men available," said the Minister of Public Works. Mr Armstrong, in an interview at Auckland on Saturday. The maintenance of existing works would be kept up and hydro-electric schemes would be proceeded with, including Waikaremoana and Karapiro in the North Island and Highbank and Tckapo in the South Island. Referring to railways the Minister said that the Napier-Gisborne. West port-1 nangahua and the South Island Main Tronic railways would be completed. The Napier-Gisborne lino was expected to be opened for traffic within a year, and with the exception of a gap of eight miles, the South Island Main Trunk should be opened for traffic between Blenheim and Kaikoura and between Christchurch and a point approximately eight miles south of Kaikoura within eight months